Are o2 at Fault or my daughter?

[Janice44]

In August this year I received an email from o2 stating with my Family Account I would have free access to Quastodio Premium Parental Control Service. I knew nothing about this except that my daughter had gone to get her daughter a phone in the o2 shop. I rang her and she said that they had probably sent it to me by mistake. I heard nothing more until the 17th of September when two amounts were taken from my bank account £78.78 + £16.00. I was in Jersey and arranged to deal with it when I was back in the UK. On Tuesday 25th of September along with my daughter, granddaughter and husband, we paid a visit to the o2 shop thinking it was all a big mistake and something we could sort out. My daughter already had her phone on my bank account as at the time she had no bank account of her own, so we were hoping to transfer it over to her new one. They brought upmy daughter's bank account and said she had insufficient credit rating but if she paid £250.00, they could transfer her daughter's phone over to her bank account. She didn't have the cash so couldn't do it. Meanwhile tears of pleading from my granddaughter to let it remain in my account. I told her I didn't want anything new in my account as at the age of 74, I don't want the responsibility of it in case anything happened to me. The manager took the phone off my granddaughter and said he will return it as damaged!? I stayed in there arguing with him all to no avail. The next day I went back to the store and demanded to see a copy of the contract. He said it was sent back with the phone. I came back, rang the helpline and was promised an investigation into it. After chasing it up twice, I heard nothing within the 28 day time span. They did however block and blacklisted my daughter's phone as I didn't want it on my account. I asked her three times if she wanted me to try and transfer it over and she told me NO! I then sent an email to the complaints department. They got back to me in five days and said there was nothing they could do as my daughter had my bank details. Well if you ever pay by cheque, your sort code and account number are on there. She did not have my bank card,neither did she have my PIN number. So I fail to see how the blame is now at my door. I had hoped that the store would have been investigated but nobody has done that. Meanwhile o2 took another amount out of my account on the 17th of October £64.44 + £16.00. Today I received another sum of£66.00 + £16.00 against my daughter's phone which has been blocked and blacklisted. What the hell is going on. I have cancelled my daughter's DD. Ialso wrote to the ombudsman on the 28th of October. Am still waiting to hear back. Are there any views on this as to whther people think it is my fault? Thank you for reading this.

[Anonymous]

It’s alright asking O2 for help, but they can’t do much about it, maybe a goodwill gesture in reducing costs, that’s about it (until an investigation )

My next step would be to ring the Police & report ‘fraud’ but be aware that if the police pursue it to its logical conclusion, your daughter could end up with a criminal record, but if she’s the thieving toe rag you make her out to be then a day in court & her name up in lights in the local rag might be just the slap she needs!

edit to your last comment - if she couldn’t get credit to get her phone, & went to get another phone, it wouldn’t ever have gone in her account. Just yours, based on your credit score

[Cleoriff]

Exactly that ^^^^^  @Anonymous.

If she couldn't pay the additional 250, and her credit rating was poor, they would never have given her the contract.

I feel so sorry for your situation but as I have said from the start, this whole debacle seems to be down to your daughter.

Now badmouthing you on social media? How awful.

[MusicIan]

Having established that your daughter has been obtaining credit by using your bank details, the next anomaly is in the behaviour of the member of staff in the O2 shop. They have some explaining to do. There is enough evidence to suspect fraudulent behaviour to void the agreement so they may now be accessories to the fraud by continuing to take money from your account. 

It’s your decision how to proceed. One thing you cannot do is allow your bank balance and your health to be eroded further by the actions of your daughter who appears to have acted without consideration of the consequences. Maybe there have been other occurrences of a similar nature before this one.

I hope you have good friends around you who are able to provide support during this difficult time. 

[Janice44]

A week or so ago I posted quite a long topic on here. The complaint is now with the Ombudsman. Briefly something happened with my daughter who took out a phone for her daughter and it ended up with being placed on my o2 account without my permission. To cut a long story short, the o2 shop took possession of my granddaughter's phone and sent it back as being faulty. The manager said this was the only way he could put it back through the system. My daughter's phone had been on my o2 account for a few years as she didn't have a bank account. Now she has one I was waiting until next April to get it transfered over to her account when the contract had expired. Because of all the hassle that I have had, when I phoned the fraud department I asked if they would remove it from my account. They did this and they also blacklisted and barred it. Now each month they are billing me for these two phones. When I got the last one on the 3rd of November, I cancelled the direct debit. I had already told them that I was not prepared to buy out my daughter's contract in view of the fact that the shop had allowed a transaction to be done in my absence and without my permission. Where exactly do I stand? If a phone has been returned I would have thought that cancelled the contract and the same I thought would apply to the blocked and blacklisted phone. Thank you for any help you can give me?

[MI5]

You need to sort this out with customer services, but if it's been returned and cancelled, you shouldn't be getting billed for it.

[jonsie]

It looks like they have just not cancelled the account. Stopping the direct debit will not end the contract and it has to be closed down properly. The shop has returned it as faulty yes but if faulty then another phone will have been sent to the address on the account. Have you received another phone or your daughter possibly collected a replacement? Is the billing address your?

Call them and ask to speak to the fraud department.

[Cleoriff]

I honestly don't think anyone here can offer a solution to this problem.

We have already ascertained that your daughter fraudulently took out a contract for her daughter whilst you were away. 

There are so many elements to 'unpick' and I think the fraud department are probably reviewing what's gone on.